Chapter 11 - Join the Club (CitC)
Tubba was found by Kamek in five minutes. The elderly Magikoopa, while apprehensive of letting a rival Kingdom's royalty into the heart of the Koopa Kingdom, didn't refuse Tubba the security of getting his injured scales treated to in the Medical Wing of Bowser's Castle. So Tubba lay in the Medical Wing's largest bed, gulping down disgusting potions from Medikoopas(Magikoopas skilled in the art of medicine) on the basis it would cure his infection in his left leg. While broken bones and other physical trauma could be healed within an hour with some Regeneration Potion, infections were much more difficult to take out, especially if they had "settled in" like it had in Tubba's body. The medical jargon way over his head, Tubba gathered that he had to lie in the Medical Wing for thirty minutes as the infected area numbed, and the potion began to fight the infection inside his body. Glancing around the room he was in, he noticed that he was in a room with many Koopas who were bloodstained and battered. The clean slices and deftly torn scales could only indicate one thing. Those weren't natural wounds, caused by fooling around and having an accident. Those were clean signs of battle. ''The war is beginning to affect all Kingdoms, ''Tubba thought grimly, looking at the door. The Medikoopas, while nice enough, had cast him furtive, scared looks, as if they expected him to get up and start battling them. But when Tubba returned the look, they glanced away and offered him more potion. Bowser's Castle was a very old fashioned Castle. While Clubba Castle had wood as a "pseudo-wall" on the interior of the Castle, Bowser's Castle's walls were pure stone, eleven inches wide on exterior walls. However, magic was a strong suit in Bowser's Kingdom, so Tubba wasn't surprised if the stone was enchanted to not injure the Koopa Kingdom allies. Torches lit the hallways, and it was adorned with various faces of Bowser. The doors were usually wooden, with a circular handle, and the floor made of the same hard stone of the walls, although most of it was red carpeted. Tubba flexed his injured leg. It was completely numb; he could hardly feel it from the knee down. While he'd be unsteady, he wouldn't have pain while walking. Pushing the thin white blanket off him, he gingerly tested it on the red carpet of the room. The leg appeared to support his weight. Striding to the door at a brisk pace, his leg twinged but didn't hurt. Opening the heavy wooden door, he stepped out into the hallway. Medikoopas were swarming around the area, with a variety of items ranging from clipboards, potions, and organ containers. Nodding at the Medikoopas, Tubba took off down the hall. While some Medikoopas looked like they wanted to stop him, his sheer weight probably told them otherwise, and those that opened their mouth to say something closed them when Tubba glared at them. The castle was dimly lit, and the halls beyond the Medical Wing next to empty. ''I have to find Bowser. ''Turning into torchlit hall after torchlit hall, Tubba aimlessly wandered around the Castle, hoping to stumble across Bowser or one of his kids. He didn't dare ask a soldier wandering the hall, for fear of being sent right back to the Medical Wing. The various tapestries of the Castle were quite interesting; Tubba noticed one of Morton Koopa Sr., Bowser's father, conquering an unknown land. There was another that showed Bowser's conquering of Mario fifteen years ago when he possessed the Star Rod. Another depicted the attempt at getting the Crystal Stars a year later. Yet another showed the attempt Bowser had at creating his own galaxy eight years ago. They seemed to tell half the story: Bowser's initial success, before his inevitable defeat at the hands of the pudgy Italian plumber. An Iglator moved ahead of him. Having not seen an Iglator for ten years, Tubba instantly recoiled. The cream yellow thick belly scales, the dark yellow legs, the colored shell, the hair... It was one of Bowser's children, Lemmy. Iglators were typically much larger than Clubbas; Bowser had towered over Tubba at the time they met ten years ago, but Lemmy was a much smaller Iglator, only Tubba's height. His rainbow hair stuck out in the otherwise drab hallway, and he was still rolling on a yellow star-patterned circus ball. Before his orange shell could roll out of sight, Tubba cried, "Lemmy! Wait!" Lemmy was the second-oldest of the Koopalings. He fought for his father in various attempts to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, the first being the ill-advised takeover of all the sub-Kingdoms twenty years ago. It ended with the dissolution of the Koopa Kingdom as Mario walked right to the heart of Bowser's Castle and took over the capital. Thus, Lemmy was about a year and a half older than Tubba, having fought at that battle at the age of five. Iglators were one of the fastest maturing species in the world, with their young powerful enough to take on humans and Toads by the age of three. Normally fun-loving, Lemmy's eyes were happy and unconcerned, but as they eyed Tubba right now, they displayed trepidation. "Who are you?" Lemmy asked, his voice much higher than it should be for someone who was twenty-five, a childish voice asking a childish question. Knowing that Lemmy wouldn't show him to Bowser without some explanation, Tubba tried to give him as little information as possible. "I'm Tubba Clubba, and I'm here to talk to your father." Tubba decided it was best to talk about the Clubba Kingdom to only Bowser. "Can you show me to him?" Lemmy narrowed his eyes, but if he was suspicious of ulterior motives, he didn't show it. The Koopaling nodded, beckoning Tubba down a corridor to his left at T-fork. "The Throne Hall's this way, Dad's usually down there." Rolling on his ball, Lemmy led the way down the hall, greeting the various soldiers. Tubba followed, fixing those same soldiers with a curious look. All of the soldiers had the same, clean scars that he had observed in the Medical Wing. The route to the Throne Hall was surrounded by lava pools, Lemmy told Tubba they were enchanted so that if someone fell in, it would be like swimming in water. Various soldiers saluted Lemmy, as more and more soldiers came in sight the closer the two came to the Throne Hall. Finally, the two of them stood in front of the metal, red door that separated the Throne Hall and the rest of the castle. The doors were patterned like Bowser's shell, so it looked like it was a red shell. "Well, I'll leave you to it, then." Lemmy nodded at Tubba, opening the left door for him. Muttering his thanks, Tubba walked through the door and into the Throne Hall. The Throne Hall was a very glamorous room, with tapestries littering the walls of Bowser's various deeds, and red carpet leading from the door to the throne. Golden statues of Bowser stood glaring at Tubba, and stone gargoyles' unseeing eyes raked him as well. "Well, Tubba." Bowser said. Tubba jumped; he hadn't seen Bowser sitting on his throne, he had been too caught up with the aura of the Throne Room. "You honestly expect me to align my Kingdom with you after what happened in the Zaz Kingdom?"